The present invention relates generally to the field of digital content, such as video, audio, multi-media and other content, and more particularly to techniques for associating such content with metadata descriptive of the content via a persistent identifier.
A wide range of digital content has been converted from legacy content on supports such as film, and an ever-increasing amount of digital content is being created directly through digital media. Such digital content may include, for example, television programming, movies, videos, audio files (e.g., music), and so forth. The content is typically stored on read/write memory supports or on read-only memory supports. Standards have been developed in recent years for associating such content with metadata that can include a wide range of information relating to the content itself. For example, one well-known technology that is under development is sometimes referred to as Material eXchange Format (MXF), which allows for creation of containers that are formatted to include both content and metadata. The MXF “container” or “wrapper” format supports a number of different streams of coded content, sometimes referred to as “essence”, encoded with any of a variety of codes, together with the metadata. It should be noted that the MXF standards are but one form of packaging of content and metadata. Many other formats and schemes may be envisaged and utilized, as discussed in detail in the following sections of this disclosure.
Such open technologies have been designed to address problems with other file formats and wrapper technologies, such as time coding (e.g., time stamping), metadata support, and so forth. Current versions of such technology, being maintained or extended by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), provide for professional-level file creation, analysis, and use. Moreover, standards for sets of descriptive metadata for use with MXF files are under development. Certain standards call for metadata registries that may contain both public and private metadata elements. For example, metadata may include names of the content or essence, descriptions, identifiers, and other metadata for association with the essence and with still further metadata. Without such metadata, the content may be simply unidentified, untraceable, and many operations, such as licensing, authorized dissemination, authorized storage and playback, and so forth may be difficult or impossible.
In a scheme such as MXF, while wrappers are particularly useful for holding such metadata about the content, such metadata and content may remain associated throughout the lifecycle of the MXF wrapper only so long as the wrapper stays in a compliant environment. Once the content leaves the environment, the metadata and its connection with the content are no longer directly linked. A simple and common example of this occurs when a file is played out to tape or through any baseband processing equipment. The associated metadata is not carried along with the tape unless there is a manual connection made, and even when made, this connection is only as good as the process that is used to oversee that the data is updated. Once the asset is captured back into the electronic workflow, the metadata can then be tagged back to the content. This tagging process, however, if it occurs at all, is manual, leaving substantial potential for human error. Moreover, the parent/child relationship between the file that left the compliant environment and the altered file will only be present if the connection is manually made. This, furthermore, can be both time consuming and expensive, and is prone to error.
There is a need, therefore, for improved techniques for packaging and associating metadata with digital content. There is a particular need for techniques that can allow for reliable and at least partially automated re-association of digital content with metadata, based upon a persistent identifier, that can be used when the metadata is stripped from the content or the content is removed from a compliant environment.